Pandora introduces AMPcast, DIY audio messaging for artists

Keen to the trend of streaming services now incorporating messaging and social features, Pandora launched a new service called AMPcast to better connect artists to fans. AMPcast allows artists to literally speak to their fans through audio messages that can be recorded and posted on mobile devices. Audio messages from artists run in conjunction with their music streams.

The service reflects the ever-shrinking division between artists and their fans, whose relationship is more interconnected than ever before. AMPcast may be considered a second-generation version of Pandora’s Artist Audio Messages, which launched in February 2015 and has counted 152 million personalized messages from artists since. The service claimed click-through rates as high as 17.7% from fans who wanted to hear Steve Aoki‘s new album release announcement in his own voice.

AMPcast upgrades the existing model by being completely self-serving for the artist. Artists can instantly create and upload the messages anytime and anywhere, while the previous iteration, Artist Audio Messages, had to be recorded in-studio. AMPcast also gives artists the ability to track stats on the audio messages. The service will be a part of Pandora’s Artist Marketing Platform, where artists and their teams manage profiles and other features. Pandora predicts that typical content of audio messages transmitted through AMPcast will be tour announcements and concert dates, album release dates, and anecdotes about the artists’ music. The messages will be linked with the ability to purchase tickets and albums as well.

“AMPcast has the potential to change the odds for musicians,” said Tim Westergren, Pandora’s founder, and former touring musician, in a statement. “This powerful tool, combined with the scale and reach of Pandora, gives every talented and hard-working artist a real shot to build a career in music. Marketing and promotion for artists will never be the same.”

AMPcast is currently live with a select group of artists, with plans for a wider release “in coming months.”